Zip ribbons and word balloons, Wednesday bliss and Previews dreams. If these phrases mean anything to you, then you're in the right place. But if they don't -- hey stick around anyway. You might just like what you see.

Monday, January 31, 2005

February Previews Highlights: Kerry's Picks

I'm excited when Fantagraphics does almost anything from tying their shoes to cleaning their dinner plate. Nearly everything they do is cause for celebration and praise. This new quarterly anthology inspires much excitement in me. The book, set to feature English language comics from all over the world, will certainly be of the same high quality that we've come to expect from Fantagraphics.

Powell, the creator of the Goon writes this four-issue series starring Billy the Kid. The cowboy faked his death and is later forced to join a traveling sideshow. The premise sounds just crazy enough for Powell and the cast of characters is intriguing.

Death, Jr. #1
Image Comics; page 135; $4.99; 48 pages

Middle School takes on a whole new level of horror in this three-part series. DJ's Dad is the Grim Reaper and his friends include conjoined twins Smith and Weston and the Seep, a foreign exchange student in a jar. The art looks both cute and macabre.

Nodame Cantabile Volume 1Del Rey; page 276; $10.95; 200 pages

This manga about a young music student with a fear of airplanes and water that prevents him from traveling for his dream looks entirely different than the manga solicited this month. The boy must overcome his fears with the help of a fellow student Nodame, also an expert pianist. The story looks touching and sweet.

Action Philosophers #1
Evil Twin Comics, page 298, $2.95, 32 pages

This Xeric Grant winning book stars famous philosophers like Nietzsche, Plato, and others as pro-wrestlers and ninjas. The book details the lives and theories of the men in a fun and easy to understand way.

I've never noticed this book advertised before, but obviously it's been around for quite some time. The text calls the book a "comics feast" complete with demons, doll stories, and Cleopatra. The art is describes as "absinthe-soaked Victorian." I don't know what that means, so I'd best check it out.